Bhubaneswar: The state govt has allowed private technical and professional institutions to fill up seats remaining vacant after the final round of OJEE counselling for the 2026-27 academic session through institute-level admissions, with admissions to be made strictly on merit.The skill development and technical education department, in an order issued on Saturday, said the process would cover vacant seats in undergraduate, postgraduate and lateral-entry courses in private technical/professional institutions. The institute-level admission process has to be completed by Aug 14, following which the portal would close and no applications would be considered.The govt has permitted candidates with valid OJEE ranks or ranks in other approved national-level common entrance tests to take part in the institute-level admission process. The department said this includes candidates who did not participate in earlier rounds of OJEE counselling or withdrew from the process; those who participated but were not allotted seats or whose allotment was not confirmed; candidates who received final allotment but did not report to the allotted institution; and those who reported for admission but subsequently withdrew and obtained a transfer certificate.The dept has directed the private institutions to counsel eligible rank holders of examinations including JEE Mains, OJEE, GATE, GPAT, CAT, MAT, XAT, ATMA, CMAT, NIMCET and NATA, as applicable to the respective courses. Admissions have to be based purely on merit, with institutes needed to submit details of eligible candidates who have reported for admission to the OJEE committee, it said.The govt has also allowed private institutions to admit out-of-state students up to 30% of their sanctioned strength, discipline-wise. It has also clarified that vacant EWS seats cannot be transferred to the general category. Such vacant seats would instead be filled in the following year through lateral entry, following applicable reservation rules.OJEE chairman D P Satpathy said the exact number of vacancies after the final round of admissions would be notified within the next two to three days. OJEE counselling for technical and professional courses started in June.
